Archive for November, 2009:
Coaching Explained From The Perspective of The Participant
Yours truly GordonWebbo today wants you to read the following article, courtesy of this site:
Anyone can use a coach, but does everyone need one? It may surprise most people to know they have probably already been working with some coaches without realising it. A coach is someone who provides advice, supports and clarifies, helps you to set goals and then assists you to achieve them. A coach is also someone who helps you make changes for the better in your life. Most of us rely on others for at least part of this. Your parents, friends, relatives, boss, colleagues, team mates and even your children have probably played a coaching role at least some time in your life, but they (and you) just didn’t know it! It was not formal, focused, directed and agreed to; but it did happen, and it probably helped, though there is also a risk that it might not have and that things didn’t improve because it lacked the structure that can be achieved in an agreed coaching relationship.
We all go through times, whether in business or our personal lives, where we are just not doing too well. Maybe we feel stuck, things are a little boring, life has lost its meaning and we have lost direction. It is hard to stay continually focused on success, and frankly we all need a little down time to rest and relax. However what usually happens when people are feeling low, out of sorts, bored and aimless is that they lose direction in many aspects of life – malaise is contagious! In fact some people spend their whole lives in a state of malaise and they don’t even know it!
Often people will recognise when things are not going too well and they seek out the coaches they have used before in their life, the ones mentioned above. It is great to have the support of these people and if you are very lucky there will be a few among them who are natural coaches, people who just have a knack and know what needs to be said to motivate you, get you back on track and they also have the time and commitment to stand by you and support you to take action. There is no doubt in my mind that some people are natural coaches and without training are able to provide great support. Unfortunately these people are few and if we are really lucky we probably only get to meet one or two over a lifetime. Many of your supports are genuinely interested in you, they want to support you and they also have their own lives and worries, with limited time and expertise to be able to spend on you. Often they don’t know what you need from them and therefore they fall short on providing the support and assistance you really require. This is not a poor reflection on your natural and selected supports. It is just the reality of people living their lives.
With a personal coach, whether for life or business, the focus is on you. A skilled person with all the tools and strategies you will need walks beside you, guiding, supporting and preparing you to take on life’s challenges with a positive, proactive approach. You agree a plan with them, set goals that are important to you, discuss obstacles that get in the way and how to conquer them. You do not need to reciprocate as you would with your informal coaching relationships, because you pay for a service. It is totally for your benefit and is targeted at your goals. Even if your employer is paying for this service as a way to boost the company’s outcomes, in doing so the employer is actually investing money in your personal and professional development. You are the one who emerges from the coaching process with a different set of values, attitude and approach that serves you very well.
There is no more perfect time to engage a coach than the present! If you are on the top of your game a coach can take you to higher excellence; if you are at mid stride and know where you are going and what you want in life a coach will speed up the process; if you are just starting out and want to explore the options for future development it is a great time to establish a coaching relationship AND if you are at the stage where you feel bogged down, stuck in a rut and going nowhere there is no time like the present to set about fixing it!
More articles by this author:
What is coaching and why we use it in business and personal life
Executive coaching enhances the ability of star performers.
What is Coaching and Why We Use It in Business and Personal Life
Yours truly GordonWebbo today wants you to read the following article, courtesy of this site:
As with sport, coaching is about improving performance; changing habits; making the game fairer; adjusting to new rules, regulations and environments; honing skills; practicing new methods; learning new approaches; keeping up with modern techniques; being abreast of the latest advances and technology and generally staying on the balls of your feet and anticipating the future. PHEW! That all sounds like hard work, and you would be right, it is. Coaching is a paradigm in personal and professional development that focuses on the recipient doing the work, whilst the coach observes, supports, encourages, focuses and reviews what the participant is doing.
Often in training programs it is easy for the participant to sit in the room, attend the training, pass the tests and gain a qualification without too much effort at all. Some training simply requires that the person turn up and listen. Whilst sharing of information is very good it rarely results in changes to practice and improvements in process or personal satisfaction. It is rarely linked to productivity benefits or measurable improvements in outcome.
This is where coaching can come to the fore. Coaching is about making changes, improving performance, enhancing relationships and generally moving forward. It uses processes that allow for demonstrable improvements. A good coaching program should be able to demonstrate through clear measures how the situation is changing and the improvements that are occurring.
An executive coach will work with senior members of a corporation (or organisation such as government) to hone their skills and management practices. Coaching is about the process of bedding down new practices and identifying opportunities for high performance. An executive who is coached has a sounding board for ideas and the coach can also provide resources for research and development. Coaches can turn managers into leaders given the right person with the focus and attitude to transform.
Have you ever found yourself wondering “what am I doing wrong?” or “why am I stuck here?” or “how do I move forward?” In this situation the person wants change, can see that things are not working and just can’t figure out how to bridge the gap to a preferred state. This is where a coach can assist. The coach will not provide a prescription for change. Telling people what to do has never had the same success as allowing them to experiment with the options and choose what feels best for them. The coach will explore the issues with the participant, set some goals, help to prioritise actions, provide some tools for moving forward and then assist in consolidating the new behaviours or changes to ensure the participant doesn’t slip back into the same dilemma.
So now we can see why coaching has been picked up and applied to many areas of life outside the sporting arena. It is a process for getting unstuck, an avenue for personal or professional improvement and a way of consolidating new habits. No wonder it is becoming more popular.
Cyber Monday For Internet Entrepreneurs
Yours truly GordonWebbo today wants you to read the following article, courtesy of Top-Web-Entrepeneurs-Plan-It.com:
The SBI! 2.0 Thanksgiving $100 Special ends on “Cyber Monday”, November 30th.
What’s “Cyber Monday”?
It is a day characterized by special deals not available at any other time.
“Cyber Monday - the first Monday after “Black Friday” - is the “ceremonial” kick-off for the online holiday shopping season.
“Cyber Monday” was started by the United States National Retail Federation at the beginning of the 2005 holiday season.
What’s SBI! 2.0?
In a nutshell, it’s the only business building platform designed for small business start-ups … offering the same features previously only available to *very* large internet entrepreneur budgets.
You can not only build a business on a micro budget with results far exceeding those of your competition. You also benefit from the powerful Web 2.0 capability.
What’s Web 2.0?
In a nutshell, Web 2.0 is the feature by which your business Web site visitors willingly contribute additional pages of useful content for your Web site audience.
Web 2.0 makes your business offer invaluable because it enhances your Web site’s usefulness in people’s decision-making process.
Consequently, your business reputation gains in credibility among your chosen target audience.
Need I underline that credibility is a highly desirable quality to acquire these days!
Last, but not least, - but for a limited time only - the yearly subscription *regular* price is now available on convenient monthly payments of only $29.99.
You can wait for “Cyber Monday”…
On the other hand, you can Buy Now. Start reaping the benefits immediately.
Claude Jollet
Owner & Editor
Top-Web-Entrepreneurs-Plan-It.com
P.S. I would not recommend SBI! 2.0 if it had not already been largely responsible for my online success. How successful? Look up your name or your business name on Google. Then, look up “Claude Jollet” on Google (use the quotes to limit results). You’ll see what I mean. In business the more people talk about you (favorably of course) the better it is for your business.
Executive Coaching Enhances The Ability of Star Performers
Yours truly GordonWebbo today wants you to read the following article, courtesy of this site:
Executive coaching is assisting star performers to stay on the top of their game. When leading athletes reach peak performance do they give up their coaches? NO. They rely even more heavily on them for fine tuning performance, sharpening the edges, spotting possible avenues for increased performance, monitoring the competition and seeking innovation. The coach is responsible for maintaining the competitive position while the star performers put in the hard yards to consolidate that position.
Coaching executives is critical to success in many multinational companies and is now becoming accepted practice in medium sized businesses. In a competitive and faced paced world there is no place for complacence in corporate success. Executives need to be at the top of their game and just like sporting stars they are more in need of a coach at this level than ever before.
There are many forms of coaching for executives and there are some common elements that will make coaching a success. Whether you go for an in-house coaching system or employ an external coaching consultant it is necessary to have a full and open discussion on the process of coaching before commencing.
Coaching does not assume a position of lack or negativity that needs to be fixed – that is performance management. Neither is coaching a relationship where one person is assumed to have all the experience and knowledge – that is mentoring. A good coach is diagnostic. They use a system of assessment, goal setting and planning, backed up by a strong framework of coaching obligations – contracting, checking and measuring – to ensure increased performance, adaptability and innovation.
A good executive coach will spend approximately 70% of the coaching time questioning and listening, 10% confirming or clarifying actions required, 10% planning where to go to next, 5% playing devil’s advocate and 5% encouraging through support and congratulations. So why would you pay someone to question and listen for 70% of the time they are working? Well there is a very good reason for this! Executives are very bright, usually well educated, skilled, entrepreneurial, thinkers and doers – what they need is support and direction and they rarely need to be told what to do. In fact they will resent being given orders! They need a sounding board to bounce ideas and work through processes and this is one role for the executive coach. This is where entrepreneurial leadership is born. It is the expansion of ideas and the introduction of innovation that allows for leadership emergence.
The skill development side of executive coaching is often based in the practicalities of managing people. It is about delegation, managing performance, feeding back to staff, organisational planning, strategic ability and emotional intelligence. The coach works with the executive to improve competencies in all these areas.
In order to measure improvements executive coaches start with an assessment of baseline management skills. Often this is achieved by using a 360 degree or linear interview process. An objective analysis of how others perceive performance is a great way to establish a baseline and also provides a checking system that can be used at various stages of the coaching process to check on progress. What emerges from the assessment are the strengths and weaknesses of each executive and themes for focusing coaching.
All coaching involves setting goals and developing a plan of action to achieve those goals. This occurs around a systems approach where each coaching session has certain elements that occur every time the coach and the executive meet. These elements are negotiated individually but will usually involve a review of the time since the last session and the goals that were set. A discussion about achievements and progress towards agreed goals. Adjustments that need to be made. Personal learning and what to do next. A decision about what the focus of the session will be next time. The aim of the sessions is to propel the participant towards leadership and better management skills.
Coaching is about change. Change is hard for most people and requires periods of review and consolidation, learning new habits and taking on new approaches. It is not an easy process and is only undertaken at an executive level when the executive is awakened to the knowledge that being at the top is only the beginning – staying there is what it is all about.
Developing a Job Description is Easier Than You Think
Yours truly GordonWebbo today wants you to read the following article, courtesy of this site:
If you develop a job description template identifying the key elements of describing any position in the company you will only need to revisit the template and fill in the blanks to standardise your job descriptions and maintain a database of descriptions for each position in the company.
Don’t be afraid to review job descriptions as often as necessary and generally on an annual basis. These reviews allow you to plan how people will have their positions upgraded, or changed. They can form the basis for salary renegotiations and also for succession planning.
It is important not to change the roles and requirements of a position without negotiation with the incumbent and making sure the new description is clear and concise and the conditions have been agreed. These negotiations about change and the clarity of the job description will form the basis for trust and loyalty between a company and its employees.
Job descriptions are valuable tools to enhance workplace harmony; clarify roles and responsibilities; create a platform for performance management and staff appraisal; form the basis for negotiations around salary and also to plan succession within the company, particularly when trying to retain good staff.
A simple recipe for a good job description includes the following ingredients:
The title of the position and the department in which the position is held should go together if possible. Good titles are those that accurately reflect responsibilities and denote the area in which the person has those responsibilities. For example;
- Machine Operator, Excavations – this is a title that tells us the person who holds the position operates machinery that is used in the field of excavation
- Director, Operations and Planning – lets us know this person is responsible for overseeing the planning aspect related to the operations of the company – a strategic rather than operational role
- Manager, Learning and Development – says this person manages the section involved in staff training and professional development
- Administrative Assistant, Office of the Secretary General – a person who provides administrative support in a particular office
An overall description of the responsibilities of the role couched in terms of productivity. Information in this section relates to how the position fits within the company and how the position supports the goals of the organisation. This should be brief, no longer than 3-4 sentences.
The next section outlines the main areas of responsibility of the position. Each area needs to be described in terms of an action using verbs such as supervises, controls, liases with, negotiates, instructs, manages, organises, operates, supports and etc. Each description must have an action verb and should be listed in order of importance to the position, with the main responsibilities listed first. It is important in this section to try and catch all the known responsibilities of the position. This will give you a realistic picture of what this position holder does, how important they are to the success of the company and also at what level they need to be compensated. If you come up with a very long list you also need to check it for reality – will one person really be able to carry all these responsibilities? If one person has this number of responsibilities what level in the organisation do they fit – are they technical, operational, managerial, strategic, directorial? This will determine the amount of compensation the applicant will expect and the organisation will need to offer to secure good applicants.
Describing relationships is important. The job description should identify who the person reports to directly and indirectly and identify who are the senior people most involved with this role. It also needs to describe who will be reporting to this position; how many people and what their responsibilities are. It is good practice to describe the reporting structure and/or attach an organisational chart so applicants can position themselves in the company and know their spheres of influence and responsibility.
Qualifications and preferred experience now needs to be identified. It may be the position requires certain licences; membership of a particular organisation or association; or involvement in activities outside the work environment. If a professional qualification, level of education or certification is required, list it. When doing this section be realistic and also allow for a broad range of specifications. If you are looking for experienced people be careful how you phrase the experience requirement. Some people can have ten years experience which is really just one year experienced ten times! Ask for demonstration of skill rather than years of experience. Every job description needs a set of competencies and a clear definition at what level that person needs to demonstrate their competence. This record of competence in each job description feeds your organisation’s competency framework (see article below about competency frameworks).
Finally it is good practice to identify any probationary period; period of engagement; length of contracts offered and the review process for remaining successfully employed. This area should identify any performance management and appraisal processes and identify a contact in the Human Resources office who can discuss the position and all requirements related to it.
Now that you have developed job descriptions for your company make sure every competency, skill or qualification is identified and recorded in your competency framework, and that the expected level of expertise in these areas of competence is identified for each position.
How valuable is your training manager?
What is Competency based training?
How to conduct a training needs analysis.
Entrepreneur Training - The Old VS The New
Yours truly GordonWebbo today wants you to read the following article, courtesy of Top-Web-Entrepeneurs-Plan-It.com:
Traditional entrepreneur training lags behind the new reality of entrepreneurship on the Web. New Web-adapted training is needed. It is now here.
The Internet Entrepreneur Test Missing Questions
Yours truly GordonWebbo today wants you to read the following article, courtesy of Top-Web-Entrepeneurs-Plan-It.com:
The traditional internet entrepreneur test neglects to ask the most critical questions. Here are the answers. Impossible to succeed without them.
SBI! 2.0 Now Even More Accessible
Yours truly GordonWebbo today wants you to read the following article, courtesy of Top-Web-Entrepeneurs-Plan-It.com:
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For the first time ever, and for a limited time only … SBI! 2.0 is available by monthly payments!
If a yearly payment of $299 is too much of a drain on your budget for now, take the monthly option of $29.99.
No other product or service offers…
- an all-in-one set of unique business building tools
- and the power of Web 2.0 at your disposal!
What’s Web 2.0?
Within SBI! 2.0 it’s a module called Content 2.0.
In a nutshell, it’s people using your Web platform to publish the information they want to share with the world. “User-generated” content is what makes FaceBook and Twitter and YouTube so big … and profitable!
Unlike Twitter and blogs, people contribute “full pages” of additional and useful content for your chosen audience.
It’s what makes your online business overall presence grow and rise way above your competition.
But first, before you decide on which payment option is best for you, please take a moment to ask yourself the following important question.
Will a small monthly payment help you be more determined than ever to follow the SBI! business-Building Action Guide? Because, that’s what it takes to succeed with SBI!
Even $30 is too much to throw away. Make sure you are ready to make those dollars work for you and your future business.
Ready?
Then, start building your business with SBI! 2.0. Buy Now.
Claude Jollet
Owner / Editor
P.S. You can save $60 by paying for a full year of business-building services.
Stock Exchange Speak Decoded
Yours truly GordonWebbo today wants you to read the following article, courtesy of this site:
Imagine this scenario:
Fast growing oil prices and huge losses within the financial industry caused by the credit crunch in most parts of the world are blamed for falling stock market prices in US and UK. The Dow Jones index at the new York Stock Exchange was sliding rapidly into a bear market during Friday.
In London, the Stock Exchange was not falling quite so fast but if recent trends are anything to go by, they will follow suit and may find themselves slipping into a bear market faster than economists expected.
We hear terms like ’sub prime market’, oil crisis and bear market everyday but no one really stops to put the whole thing into simple terms. This isn’t an easy job to do. To interpret what is in effect, ‘economist speak’, is not the simplest of things.
We hear news stories like this but no one explains what it means. It’s full of stock exchange ‘speak’.
The term ’sub prime market’ refers to those lenders who were only too keen to lend money for mortgages to people who they know would struggle to keep up repayments. I say ‘were’ because they aren’t too keen any more. It’s a case of ‘once bitten, twice shy’. The companies who lent money to people who are now struggling because of the rapid increase in fuel prices and the associated hike in food prices, have only themselves to blame. The trouble here is that they were falling over themselves to lend money when the going was good and as soon as things looked rocky they wanted it back. It’s just like lending someone an umbrella when the sun is shining and wanting it back as soon as it rains.
The oil crisis needs no explanation and there are many different reasons for this. The thing that concerns us all is that prices are rising again worldwide and demand will soon exceed supply.
All these things combined with media driven panic mongering, push the world’s stock markets into ‘bear markets’.
A bear market on the stock exchange is a period of time when things are depressed and doom and gloom prevails. Investors get edgy and panic that they might lose money on their investments so they sell their shares. When there are a lot of shares on the market, prices drop and so more investors panic and sell, and so it goes on. On a personal level, pensions are hit and investors can no longer live on their money.
Things do not seem to being recovering very fast despite what the media tells us. The proof we all need is see jobs available, reasonable prices in shops and affordable new homes and cars. I’m afraid it will be a long haul.
How to Get The Best and Highest Price for Your Gold, Silver and Platinum
Yours truly GordonWebbo today wants you to read the following article, courtesy of this site:
If you have any further advice on ensuring the best return from your sales please add them in the comments box below for future readers.
If you are selling broken gold, silver or platinum jewellery because it is broken, unfashionable, not to your taste or just because you need the money, you’ll want the best price for the items. Here are some tips to ensure you get the best price for them.
Image via Wikipedia. This item would be worth far more than its scrap value (see below). This is gold from Ancient Greece dated circa 1700 BC
Tips for Getting the Best and Highest Price for Your Gold, Silver, Platinum and any Other Precious Metal
Firstly, you should ensure you know the quality of the gold, silver or platinum. What is its carat, how pure is it? A reputable dealer will give you this information by performing a chemical test or just by viewing it if they are experts in their field. This is particularly useful if the items are not properly hallmarked – often jewellery bought outside the US, Canada, New Zealand Australia or UK is not hallmarked. The higher the carat the higher the jewellery’s value it commands.
Secondly, to perform your own evaluation you will need to know the jewellery’s total weight. A jeweller or dealer will help you with this but you should keep in mind that you are under no obligation to sell. See them stating that you are “considering selling”.
Thirdly, you should make yourself aware of the going rates for buying gold, silver, platinum or any other precious metal. You should also check out the prices offered by companies bidding to buy scrap gold form the public. Notice the difference between the two. This gap represents some of the leeway buyers have.
Armed with all the information above you will now be in a position to negotiate the price upwards.
Lastly, if you have broken jewellery, you should consider getting this valued at local jewellers. This is because the item/s might be worth more than their scrap value. For instance, an old gold coin is usually worth more than its scrap value as is antique jewellery.
Image via Wikipedia
